There is often a need to package a product in a container, such as a bag of heat shrinkable film. For example, in the case of restructured meat products sold to delicatessens and other food outlets, uncooked restructured meat is deposited in and cooked in a bag fabricated of a cling film. Cooking improves shelf life by killing microbes that would otherwise result in spoilage. However, cooking temperatures also tend to release moisture from the meat. This "purge" may cause the meat to become dried out and thus less palatable to the consumer. Also, the loss of moisture reduces the weight of the meat, which is economically disadvantageous for a product that is priced on a per-pound basis.
A conventional way of preventing purge is to cook the meat in a cling film made of a material that binds to proteins on the surface of the meat and forms a moisture barrier that reduces moisture loss.
The use of cling films is an effective method of controlling purge; however, it creates difficulties when meat products, such as beef, are to have a "rub" applied thereto. This rub, which is a combination of dry seasonings and caramel coloring that is applied to the surface of the beef to improve its flavor and to provide an oven roasted appearance, prevents clinging of the film apparently due to the interference of the rub with the adhesion of the film to proteins on the meat surface. As a result, purge is undesirably increased.
A hydrolyzed meat protein product marketed under the commercial designation AMP 600 by American Meat Protein Corporation (Ames, Iowa), when added to a restructured meat product, limits purge even when cling films are not used. It is desirable, however, to avoid the use of additives whenever possible due to the cost and the possible negative labeling impact of same.
In an attempt to overcome the foregoing problem, a two step process was developed whereby the cling film was removed from the unrubbed meat after cooking, rub was applied to the meat and then the meat was repackaged with new film. Beyond the obvious inefficiencies of the foregoing process, the meat was again exposed to microbes, in turn shortening shelf life.
A still further process was developed that avoided the need to open the film in which the meat was cooked. The film was heated and a rub solution was applied to a portion thereof. The film was then stretched to form a bag such that the rub was disposed on the inside of the bag. During this stretching step, the rub solution was dried, leaving a relatively uniform coating thereof. Thereafter, the meat product, which was previously treated with a commercial ingredient for preventing purge, was placed in the bag. A second bag was then placed around the meat and the two bags were heat shrunk together. The meat was then cooked in the bags, cooled and shipped.
The foregoing process was abandoned due to difficulties encountered in automating the system.
Other attempts at applying a rub to a meat product before cooking involved sprinkling of dry powder into a bag before the meat was loaded therein, painting the bag with an aqueous rub solution after the bag was formed or adding a measured amount of aqueous rub solution to the bag and then spreading the solution with some type of mechanism.
These prior methods of applying rub before cooking yielded inconsistent rub coverage on the finished product, and hence, have not been completely satisfactory.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for a process of packaging materials such as restructured meat products whereby a consistently uniform rub coating may be applied to such meat products over the entire surface of the product in an efficient manner with the avoidance of post- packing contamination of the product or heat seal in the package consistent with federal regulatory guidelines and industry safety standards.